The present invention relates generally to assessing the risk of injury to a child by a product, and more particularly to using computer and physical anatomical models of young children in conjunction with computer and physical models of a product to determine the risk of injury to a child from that product.
For young children, particularly those younger than 4 years old, placing objects of all kinds in their mouths or other body orifices is normal developmental behavior. However, this behavior carries risk of injury and, in the case of foreign bodies that become impacted in the airway, death by asphyxiation.
A study of choking in young children examined the characteristics of objects that had caused serious aerodigestive tract (airway, cricopharyngeal, or esophageal) injury, as indicated by the need for operative removal, or death due to choking as reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The results confirmed previous reports in the medical literature that the risk of injury or death posed by a food, toy or toy part, or another object depends upon its size, shape, and consistency.
The study used a computer-simulated Small Parts Test Fixture (SPTF) to analyze the characteristics of 101 rigid, three-dimensional objects that caused young children to choke to death. According to Part 1501 of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, an object intended for use by small children will be approved for interstate commerce if it does not fit within the SPTF, a rigid cylindrical device designed to simulate the young child's airway. Of the 101 objects that had caused children's deaths, fourteen (14) passed the SPTF test. Thus, fourteen objects that did not fit completely within the SPTF had caused children's deaths. These results indicate that a more accurate means to assess risk is needed.
The assessment of risk posed by various objects for causing impaction injury or death can be improved in two ways. First, "research tools" used to assess the risk of impaction should more closely model the irregular shapes of the body cavities being studied. Second, because a child's anatomy changes with development, models should be developed of various body cavities for children of different ages.